Democracy, environmental commitment and quality

• Main Author: Wang, Shuo
• Other Authors: Lee Chia-yi
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/69831
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the rapid industrialization in the developing world, natural environments are worsening and become a hot topic under severe concerns. Regime type has long been debated in explaining environment degradation and response policies across countries. Do democracies always perform better than non-democracies on issues of environment? Although previous literatures offer plenty of explanations, few empirical studies could support their theories. To provide quantitative evidence, based on global datasets this paper conducts regression and logistic models to examine democracy's impacts on environmental quality and commitment respectively. The empirical analysis basically supports the view that democracy positively promotes environmental performance. Moreover, although some environmental problems still exist, a case study indicates that democratization indeed makes a significant difference in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.